Houston Nutt talks to Kansas about opening, newspaper says

APCould Houston Nutt be the new coach at Kansas? He's reportedly talked to the Jayhawks AD.Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt has talked with Kansas AD Lew Perkins about replacing Mark Mangino, the Kansas City Star reported this afternoon.

Ole Miss AD Pete Boone said there was "nothing to" the Star's report, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

So what gives?

Only Nutt knows right now. But we do know something else about Nutt.

The guy is an expert in keeping his name linked to coaching vacancies. I'm talking genius. Having covered too many coaching searches during a previous life as The Times' Alabama beat writer, Nutt's name would always surface and would never go away.

This name might come, that name might go. But Nutt's name always kept popping up.

Even when, in retrospect, Alabama clearly has its sights set on Nick Saban and was willing to wait for the NFL season to end, Nutt's name lingered.

Was there anything to it? Obviously not. Still, his name kept popping up in those don't-quote-me conversations with the ever-popular "anonymous sources."

The same thing happened last year when Auburn removed Tommy Tuberville. Nutt's name popped up. Was there anything to it? Since Auburn AD Jay Jacobs interviewed seemingly half the world (but not Nutt) before settling on Gene Chizik, obviously not.

So the fact that Nutt's name has been linked to the Kansas job is no surprise at all. If he leaves Ole Miss for the Jayhawks, well, that would be most surprising.